Arena Season 7 started yesterday, which has two implications for the battleground fighter:

Now is a great time to try Arena, if you haven’t, and

It’s time to go shopping, because new PvP fashions are in stores NOW!

Last week, you could buy Hateful Gladiator main set pieces and Deadly Gladiator offset pieces for honor. Those have been replaced by Deadly and Furious pieces, respectively.

The information in my previous gear post is still reasonably correct, but the clear relative value of the Titan-Forged pieces is no longer there; in most cases the decision is now between crit and haste, and which works best for you.

Okay, The new Titan-Forged pants are still really good. And they make me look good, too!

The new pieces, for the most part, are nicer looking than their predecessors; more ornate detailing, more colors, a little more bling. But they are PvP gear, which means they look functional, drab, and, dare I say it, dowdy, when compared to raid clothes. They’ll keep you alive to win the beauty contests later though!

Expect to see long lines at the counters to buy the new gear, and long batlleground queues as people grind out the honor to get these new pieces. The honor cap of 75k prevents people from stockpiling enough funds to buy the sets all at once, but I found getting a full set can be done with some focused PvP in 1-2 weeks. My strategy last time was to hit battlegrounds in the following priority:

Wintergrasp whenever possible.

Strand of the Ancients, because of the time limit.

Alterac Valley, because it’s fun

All the other BGs as needed to get marks for Concerted Efforts

I’m not sure how I’m going to do it this time. The Isle of Conquest might offer a higher ROI than AV, but I’m not sold on it surpassing SotA. Warsong Gulch will hopefully be less painful than before, and Arathi Basin and Eye of the Storm should go a little quicker.

But my playtime is more limited than the last time I did this, and there are more things to do in 3.2. So I’ll take it one piece at a time. I may also look at splitting my BG time with some Atena time, to get the good loot discounts.

It’s important to remember when the shiny new fashions come out that they’ll be on the discount rack next season, so don’t burn out getting them. Gearing up isn’t a sprint, it’s a marathon.

No, you haven’t missed anything. As of yesterday, Deadly/Furious are now the entry level PvP epics, and can be purchased with either Emblems or Honor. As Ihra says below, Furious/Relentless are a step up but they require Arena ratings.

Don’t think so Cass…Furious boots may be “entry” but if you look on the flipside they’re also the second-best you can get; the Relentless boots will also take a halfway decent arena rating as well as honor, I think in the 1600-1700 neighborhood or so.

The Wintergrasp quests are absolutely worth doing; they have great rewards. The change to weekly from daily quests, however, doesn’t make them a reliable source of honor, just one big weekly pop of 15k or so. That’s not bad, but you’re better off doing every Wintergrasp you can to get Marks for Titan-Forged gear, and running the other battlegrounds for Concerted Efforts.

SotA and AV still seem to be the best “filler” battlegrounds, but perhaps that’s because Alliance is losing the Isle of Conquest so badly in the Ruin battlegroup. I’m lucky if I get 300 honor a battle there. SotA and AV yield a consistent 1000-1500 honor, with some giving over 2000.

I’d love to hear from folks who are actually winning IoC before passing judgement, though.

About CWM

Cynwise's Warcraft Manual is a weblog about many facets of the World of Warcraft: PvP battlegrounds, digital avatars, warlock theory, and having fun with alternate play styles are common topics.